“Loving every single day of my life” – Flaviyake
LA based singer-songwriter/music producer, Flaviyake [flah-vee-uh-ke] is known for reinventing herself in every new music video. She was born during an earthquake in Chișinău, the largest city and capital of Moldova. At the age of six, she studied flute and piano at the Sergey Rachmaninov School of Music in Chișinău and wrote her first song when she was 10 years old.
As a Grammy Recording Academy and NARIP member, Flaviyake has established a career writing songs, in both English and Russian, for herself and other artists.
Her name is a hybrid of her Latin name Flavia (meaning ‘golden, blonde’) and Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, her favourite designer.
In 2013, Flaviyake started recording various songs with her brother, RK, as producer. From these sessions, ‘Celestial Cutie’, ‘Turn Around / The Magic Hit’, ‘Because I’m a Doll’ and ‘Electronic Boy’ were released independently as singles. All four singles were played on British online radio stations and ‘Because I’m a Doll’ was aired for the first time on BBC6 Music Radio by Tom Robinson in February, 2014. This was followed later in 2014 by the release of her ‘Barcode Puppets’ single supported by a video created in collaboration with Moscow producers CJ Slick and El Ray at Sound Evolution. At the moment Flaviyake continues to produce and collaborate with musicians and artists all around the world.
Articles by Flaviyake: 5 Producing Tips for Songwriters, Let’s Create Change for Women
Flaviyake’s Social Media
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My DJ Inspiration
I have been asked how I feel about DJing or producing in the man’s world. I started producing when I was 16 and I never thought of it as doing something that belongs to men. I wanted to learn DJing when I was 17, but the guys who had a DJ controller didn’t want to show me how to use it because they said that would be too complicated for me. That was the first experience when I wasn’t given a chance because of my gender. There was no Youtube at that time and my parents could not afford a DJ controller. So I had no access to do DJing. Now I have a DJ controller and it does not feel like I do a man’s job. It feels very natural to me. But I have to be careful about my image, because there are female DJs, once again, that make it all about their body, and I am a true music maker. So I feel like I have to prove that I am a true musician, and not just a pretty woman that moves with the music. I like my hair long now and I take care of my nails, so people may find me not competent enough based on my elegant look. Even my friends told me that people rather have an image of a female producer that has a short green haircut, piercing and tattoos, and that somebody has to know me really well to know how skillful I am under my look. Not to mention that I am naturally very tiny and my voice is not loud. Knowing that, I just do my best and let work speak for myself.
PC: Elena Gulyaikina
